DirecTV has been ordered to stop trashing cable TV in its ads — but even the ad regulator admits the Rob Lowe spots 'are very funny'

The US ad regulator has told digital TV provider DirecTV to stop
trashing cable in its ads.

Actor Rob Lowe and a number of his alter-egos have appeared in a
series of humorous ads over the past few months, claiming DirecTV
is superior to cable in terms of service wait times, signal
reliability, picture and sound quality, and that it has better
sports programming.

Back in April, Comcast complained about the ads to the National
Advertising Division, a regulatory unit that investigates
controversial ads. The NAD
recommended the spots be discontinued because DirecTV did not
submit substantiation for its "superior" claims in the
investigation, and that disclosures in the ads themselves about
the company's customer-satisfaction ranking, sports-programming
charges, and picture quality were "inadequate."

At the time, DirecTV said it was planning to replace the ads
anyway with spots showing Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition
cover model Hannah Davis and a singing, talking horse.

Nevertheless, a five-member panel of the National Advertising
Review Board (NARB) — the appellate unit of the US advertising
industry's self-regulatory system — reviewed the NAD's decision.
The verdict was published on Friday.

The panel noted that the Rob Lowe commercials "are very funny,"
but added that "depending on the context, even humorous
advertisements can convey messages that require substantiation by
the advertiser."

In summary, the NARB decided:

The panel agreed with the NAD that the ad
conveyed a message that DirecTV is "superior to cable."

The panel agreed with the NAD that DirecTV's
claim about "up to 1080" should be modified to include a
disclosure that this is limited only to programming where the
resolution is available

The panel did not agree with the NAD's findings
that DirecTV's "Scrawny Arms Rob Lowe" commercial reasonably
implied all sports programming was available in the service's
$19.99/month introductory bundle. The NARB recommended DirecTV
make a clearer disclosure.

The panel agreed DirecTV had appropriate
substantiation for its "#1 in customer satisfaction over all
cable TV providers claim" but recommended it
more prominently disclose the source of the information.

DirecTV did not agree with all aspects of the decision, but said
in a statement: "DirecTV is a strong believer in the
self-regulatory process and will take the NARB’s recommendations
into consideration when making these claims in the future."

However, DirecTV added that it "continues to believe that
consumers do not perceive comparative superiority claims in the
Rob Lowe advertisements. Whether from news accounts or social
media, it is clear that consumers appreciate and understand the
central role that humor and exaggeration play in the Rob Lowe
advertisements."